Despite a marked decline in investment by internet companies in Zimbabwe, internet accessibility has been on the increase and the southern African country now features 26 185 LTE subscriptions and 6 million internet users.

Telecommunications is one of the few top-performing sectors in the country and internet accessibility is boosting operators by providing additional revenue streams and covering up for declining income from voice telephony, the industry's traditional cash cow.

Zimbabwe's internet penetration rate now stands at approximately 46.6% after a 2.1% leap in the third quarter of last year, according to stats availed by the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).

"Lit/equipped international internet bandwidth increased by 2.6% to reach 31,310Mbps from 30,520Mbps recorded in the previous quarter. The increase is attributed to the commissioning of more STM1s by Liquid and TelOne," Potraz said in its latest industry report released yesterday.

The report, which covers the third quarter period of 2015, adds that "total revenue generated by Internet Access Providers (IAPs) in the third quarter of 2015 was $37,470,938".

This represented a 10.4% increase in revenue from $33,938,217 recorded in the previous quarter.

However, investment by IAPs declined by 23.3% to $11.7 million compared to the $15.3 million put up in investment in the second quarter.

Potraz attributed the increase in IAP revenues to "the increased uptake and usage of internet services" in Zimbabwe, with internet communications rising in popularity.